


now i’m feeling your breathing slow

by atlantisairlock



Category: Charlie's Angels (2019), Charlie's Angels (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Future Fic, Gunshot Wounds, Heroism, Human Trafficking, Mission Fic, Near Death, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 16:33:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21479440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/atlantisairlock
Summary: Elena's first mission is supposed to be a cakewalk.Emphasis on 'supposed to be'.
Relationships: Elena Houghlin/Jane Kano/Rebekah Bosley/Sabina Wilson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 313





	now i’m feeling your breathing slow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beerbad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beerbad/gifts).

> for **beerbad**, who asked for hurt/comfort between 'any and all of the ladies', and of course y'all know i was just waiting to pull out the ANGST, so here we are. hope you like it!
> 
> this fic features implied violence against children in the form of human trafficking - nothing extremely explicit or violent, but just be warned! 
> 
> title from 'lights down low' by max.

It’s supposed to be a low-risk assignment. Charlie doesn’t even want them to engage with any personnel - it’s strictly stealth, recon on the target’s estate while he’s out of the country, and if they can get their hands on some of his financial documents then by all means, but that aside, it’s an in and out. No casualties. No traces. It’s easy enough that it could be a one-person job, and Bosley decides it’s the perfect way to put Elena on the field for her very first mission.

“Jane and Elena will be on the ground,” Bosley briefs them over the floor plan of the main house. “Sabina, you’re on perimeter as backup. I’ll be in the car over here, on this road. One hour maximum - scan the place, see what you can pick up. Focus on whatever fine art you spot.” Their guy’s thing is art forgery, with a side helping of art theft - not very high on anyone’s list of most wanted, but he hosts a lot of parties and Charlie’s been getting wind that some pretty shady characters have been turning up, so. Still, safe enough, and Elena’s nervous but not shitting herself or anything when they get into the house. She’s got Jane, Sabina and Bosley in her ear, months of training under her belt, and the thrill of it thrumming through her veins. Her first real assignment as an Angel. She’s an _Angel _now, and there really is nothing like it.

Fifteen minutes in, slowly sweeping through the mansion, and she hears Jane click her tongue and sigh irritably over the comm link. “God, this is unbelievable - this guy has a room full of portraits of himself from _every _movement known to man. He must be insufferable to talk to.”

Elena grins as she hears Sabina cackle over the link. “Oh, shit. That’s such a rich person thing to do. My dad used to get a portrait painted every fucking time he hit another million, it was the most pretentious thing _ever.”_

“Did _you_ ever get any portraits painted?” Bosley asks, sounding somewhere between mockingly amused and genuinely curious.

“Sure. They did one when I was born, one when I started elementary school, and one when I started middle school, and… you get the picture. My mom made me put them all up in my room. It was so fucking embarrassing when I had friends over.”

“Oh my god, now I need to see them,” Jane says, quietly laughing now. “I can see it now - baby Sabina, probably in some awful, gaudy disaster of a dress with - with gold stitching or something ridiculous like that, immortalised in an _oil painting _\- “ And Sabina’s snorting, and Bosley’s laughing along, and Elena’s smiling wide and genuine when she sneaks into a hidden corner in the basement and sees twenty terrified children staring back at her.

Fuck.

Well. That escalated really fucking quickly.

As she reports back to Bosley, urgently and with rising panic now, Elena’s stumbled upon what looks like at least twenty to thirty children, all around twelve and under, caged in a fairly well-hidden part of the lowest basement. She counts about ten cages - actual fucking _cages_ \- in the space, half of which are empty but definitely look like they’ve been in use recently. The kids are quiet but for their breathing and occasional whimpering, and they look ragged and scared and haunted. Elena isn’t sure exactly what this whole setup is, but it is _definitely _a hundred times worse than art theft.

“Ten to one we’re looking at part of a trafficking syndicate,” Bosley says grimly, exhaling a soft, furious hiss. “And a damn well hidden portion of it too. God knows how long this piece of shit has stayed off the radar, _fuck.” _From where she stands, still hidden in the basement, Elena can hear Bosley’s fingers flying across the equipment in the car. “Charlie’s been notified. Mission parameters have officially been changed. Calling in local authorities to get the kids out of there _now_, take in anybody on the grounds who’s on the payroll. Jane, Elena - scan the house again, give me an estimate of how many people the local responders should be looking out for and how well they’re armed. Sabina, I need a scan of the exterior.” A pause as they all give an affirmative. “Authorities have been informed and will be arriving in fifteen minutes. We will be leaving active confrontation to them, but you have permission to engage if shot upon first. Go.”

“Fuck,” Elena whispers as she darts out of the basement to run her route again, heart thudding in her chest. “This is bad, really fucking bad.”

“It’s going to be okay,” says Jane, her voice steady. “You did good, Elena. We’re going to get the kids out of here, and this asshole’s going to get his due.”

Sabina mutters something about how he’s going to get a lot more than ‘his due’ if she ever gets her hands on the fucker, but Elena feels her breathing even out a bit. Yeah. They’re Angels - they protect people, they do good. They’re going to make this right, and everything’s going to be okay.

Between her and Jane, they count up eight personnel in the house, five of whom are armed. Sabina reports four more armed guards patrolling the grounds. Bosley relays the information to the necessary parties. “All right. Well done, Angels. SWAT team and local law enforcement are arriving in under sixty seconds, so we’re out of here. Follow the original exit and rendezvous route. Go.”

And so it’s over. Her first mission, which turned out _way _fucking scarier than she thought it would be, which is probably par for the course when it comes to their line of work. Elena doesn’t realise she’s holding her breath until she scrambles out of an open window behind the greenhouse and starts making her way to the car.

From the corner of her eye she sees movement - sees Jane making a swift, stealthy exit of her own. Past some manicured hedges and one of the fountains, going towards the same side gate Elena’s headed towards -

and then out of fucking _nowhere, _an armed guard appears, rounds the corner making almost no sound at all, and his eyes land on Jane, just a few feet from where Elena is, hidden from his gaze. Jane freezes for just one terrible second, and it plays out almost like slow motion. The guard lifting his gun. Priming to shoot. Finger on the trigger.

A low-risk assignment. Stealth, recon. No casualties, no traces, no engagement.

No bulletproof vest.

One easy shot.

She lunges before she can even think it through. Something screams out inside her, this primal desperation and fear and the only thing that processes is an endless shrieking, _no no no. _Elena throws herself at Jane, knocking her to the ground - a shot fires, the sound deafening, ringing in her ears, and it feels like it did back when they were in Istanbul, when their hotel blew up, but something worse - pure impact, pain, a pain she doesn’t think she’s ever felt before. Blinding, burning, through her entire body, like the whole world narrows to that one feeling, and then she’s on her back, on the ground. The sky is pale blue above her, and she can hear shouting, more gunfire, voices mingling, loud, but getting softer, getting more distant. Her hand, pressed against her stomach, feeling it wet, and she can’t move, can’t lift her head or her arm, her vision narrowing and tilting but she thinks she can see red, so much of it, so much -

“Elena!” Someone yelling her name, but it still comes through faded, like static, like a bad signal on TV. It sounds like Jane, but she can’t see where it’s coming from. She can’t see anything, she can’t - the black is creeping in, on the edges, and then Jane’s face, consuming what’s left of it, all she can see, blocking out the sky. Pure terror in her expression. “Elena! Elena, stay with me, don’t - “

_Don’t _-

_Don’t - !_

It’s the last thing she remembers - 

\- and then she wakes up.

Everything hurts, when she wakes up, aching down to the very bone. Her head swims, vision blurry for a good five seconds before she can get any focus again. No more sky above her, just a plain white ceiling. That sharp, clean smell reminiscent of hospitals and clinics. She can see, she can breathe. She’s alive.

She’s… alive. She got shot - she took a bullet for Jane, she was shot, and she’s alive.

“Elena?” She hears, faint, and just manages to turn, slightly, to the direction of the sound. Bosley comes into view, looking pretty awful - eyes rimmed red, hair messy, obviously sleep-deprived. “Oh my god - Elena. You’re awake.” She’s leaning over her, and Elena feels a hand slip gently into her own, squeezing and running a thumb over her knuckles. “Fuck, _fuck _\- thank God.” Another hand coming to rest against her forehead, just a moment, brushing her hair back. “Just hang on, baby, I’m going to get Sabina and Jane. Stay awake, okay? Stay awake for us. Good girl.”

With that she’s gone, Elena’s hand falling empty again, and the pain lingering. Her breaths feel ragged, rattling in her chest. She hears a door opening, footsteps, hurried and frantic, and then they’re there, all three of them, Sabina smiling, small and wan and relieved, and Jane still scrubbing tears away.

“Hey,” Sabina says, trying for cheerful, coming out a little too shuddery for it. “Good to see you open your eyes again, babe. Got to say, this has been the longest twenty-four hours of my life.” She holds Elena’s hand tight and doesn’t let go. “Scared us for a hot second there.”

Elena’s gaze settles on Jane, who’s clutching the sides of the bed she’s in, knuckles white. “You complete fucking _idiot,” _she whispers, voice thick with emotion, like she’s struggling not to cry again. “What the hell were you thinking, you stupid, reckless - you could have _died, _Elena. You almost fucking did, it’s a miracle you’re even lying here right now - “

“Jane,” Bosley says, soft but firm, placing a hand on her arm. Elena doesn’t realise her eyes are watering until Sabina leans in, pressing a kiss against her temple and brushing her tears away. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay. It’s just - a lot. It was a lot for her. We were all scared we were going to lose you.” She turns back to look at Jane, who’s got her face buried against Bosley’s shoulder now, taking deep, shaky breaths. “Jane, hey. Come on, you're scaring her. She’s alive. That’s the most important thing. Right?”

Jane nods, almost imperceptibly, inhaling and turning to look at Elena again. She steps in close, touching her forehead to Elena’s before moving back, just the slightest. “Sorry, I’m sorry, Elena, I’m so sorry. I just…” She makes a wounded noise at the back of her throat. “He shot you. He was going to shoot me and I - I saw him fire, and I saw you fall, and you were just, you were lying there, and you were bleeding, and I thought I was watching you die and I, I don’t know what I would’ve done, Elena. If you’d died, I don’t…”

Her voice sounds rough, hoarse, and it takes Elena a moment to get everything working again. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, raising a shaking hand to cup Jane’s cheek. “I saw him. You would have died. I couldn’t let him.”

“I know. You saved me.” She squeezes Elena’s hand tight. “You did so good. Best damn Angel I know.”

Elena laughs creakily, shifting her gaze to Bosley, questioning. “The kids… the target.”

“They’re okay. They’re going to be taken home, and they’re going to be safe. And we’ve got other Angels hunting him down right now. He’s not going to get away with any of this. Thanks to you, Elena. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“So it was worth it,” Elena says, and she means it, because everything hurts and she nearly bled her life out on those grounds a day ago but she’s alive, and innocent children are safe, and the people she loves the most are, too. And she’d do it all over again if it meant having Jane standing right here beside Sabina and Bosley, alive enough to cry. If she could go back again, and again - every single time. She would.

“You’re going to be stuck in here for a while,” Sabina says, not without a hint of humour. “Tends to be a side effect of getting shot.”

Elena nods, managing a small smile. “But you’ll stay with me, right?”

That earns a round of soft laughter, Jane tightening her grip on Elena’s hand, Sabina gently stroking her hair, Bosley kissing her sweet and gentle, letting her lips linger on Elena’s. “Of course we will. All of us.”

“Then I’m going to be okay,” says Elena, the truest thing in her life, and she is.


End file.
